Scars and Seals
by PennyPi
Summary: He promised himself that if he survived the war he'd be a better friend than he was teacher, so here he was trying to comfort her to the best of his limited abilities. Kakasaku friendship one-shot, rated for use of language at one point.


Hi there, wow it's been a few months since I wrote anything but if anyone is actually expecting anything from me then do not despair as I am currently trying to write a multi chapter fic, but I'd rather wait till I have it all written out beforehand so I can upload it consistently so this is just a one shot I've been working on for a few days.

Oh yeah, and I reckon that canonwise they're about 17 when the war finished (actually I think everyone's about 17 at this point in the manga if you take into consideration Sakura's seal took 3 years to develop and this war has been going on for about 5 freaking years) so there is underage drinking, I'm not condoning it but if you live in a world where you can kill at a young age you can probably drink at a young age.

* * *

"Is it permanent?"

Ino's finger outlined the diamond on her friend's forehead.

"I think so."

"Hey! You should dye your hair pink and put it in pigtails! Then you'd really be a Mini-Tsunade!", Tenten said between laughs.

Sakura hit Tenten on the arm, as if people weren't intimidated enough by her! The weapons expert took the blow but her inebriated state caused her to fall off the couch, even the ever so polite Hinata laughed at her friend's misfortune. It seemed a few beers was all that was needed for her to come out of her shell. Sakura giggled into her drink, she was thankful to be able to laugh with the kunoichi so easily after so long. The war had ended only a few months ago and life was starting to return to normal, Ino was still shaken from the loss of her father, but she was strong and knew that she could rely on her friends if she needed the support.

After the war Ino and Tenten had forged a strong bond, with both of them loosing important people a rather odd friendship had blossomed. Sakura had never gotten the chance to befriend the kunochi before but growing close to her within their small circle had allowed Sakura to discovery how loud and bubble Tenten could be, almost like a second Ino. Sometimes one was enough but she was thankful that Ino had someone to empathise with.

Sakura was lucky enough to not loose any family members or team-mates, Kakashi had been gravely injured, even with an attempt to sew up his own wound had led to an infection, seeing him unconscious on a bed in the makeshift hospital had terrified her and she thought that that was it for him. Taking another swig of her beer she zoned back into the current conversation, which by the direction of everyone's eyes was about her.

"Hey forehead, I asked a question.", Ino waved her arms in front of her friend's face, "Can it change colour?"

"What?", she was lost until Hinata repeated what Sakura had missed, "Your seal, can it change colour?"

"Yes. That.", Ino nodded in confirmation, swaying slightly as she took a drink, "Like, it'd be pretty cool if you could colour co-ordinate it to your outfit."

Her hand rose to her forehead, touching it self-consciously, "I'm not sure, does it look that weird?", truthfully she'd been too busy to stop and think about it, people had congratulated her on such impressive chakra control and Tsunade was beaming when she say the mark on her apprentices forehead.

It was only with Ino's questioning she began to consider the aesthetic changes the symbol had caused. She might be a ninja but she was still a girl, a girl taught from a young age the importance of her appearance, even if she didn't want to care it was still heavily ingrained enough for her to worry about her looks every now and then. What if it made her forehead look bigger? She cringed slightly at how her forehead was such a big issue, you'd think at 17 she would have grown out of such childish insecurities but apparently not. her friends assured her it looked good, the colour went well with her eyes and complimented her hair, Tenten mentioned how lucky it was that it didn't clash. Hinata could see how uneasy Sakura was becoming about the topic, she didn't know why but was sympathetic enough to direct the conversation away by telling her friends that she had finally asked Naruto out. Sakura threw a thankful glance her way as the girls continued to drink and bombard the poor Hyuuga with questions.

Sakura's eyes opened to see nothing but darkness, it was also strangely hard to breath. Lifting her sore head she found that she had fallen asleep with her face in the couch and a certain weapon wielding kunoichi sprawled across her back. She frowned as she looked around the room, bottles covered the coffee table, a few littered the floor. The three sleeping teenagers snored lightly in what Sakura would only assume were incredibly uncomfortable positions, Ino would probably have a sore back from sleeping on the floor. The pink-haired woman stood up and began to clear the room trying not to wake her friends, a hangover was enough for them to deal with, asking them to help her clean would just be mean. With the bottles cleared away within a few minutes she showered and prepared breakfast, thankful that Shizune had shown her how to metabolize alcohol to prevent hangovers.

She always found a cooked breakfast helped after a night of excessive drinking. Tenten did not agree as she ran to the bathroom. The rest of the morning moved slowly, Sakura's apartment became a recovery centre as her friends dealt with their hangovers.

* * *

"Sorry about the trouble.", even hungover and sprawled rather inelegantly across and arm chair Hinata was polite. Ino and Tenten had recovered long ago and had left.

"Don't worry about it, I've got trained soon but you can stay till you feel well enough to leave."

Sakura pitied Hinata as she wrapped her weapons pouch round her thigh, the first hangover was the worst, she wasn't surprised the heiress had never been drunk, the Hyuuga elders probably kept an eye on the reputation of the soon-to-be head of the clan.

Pulling her boots on she threw a spare sky at the idle ninja, asking her to lock up and send the key through the door when she left. All she heard in response was an uncharacteristic grunt as she left.

* * *

"Okay! Okay! I surrender!", whined the blonde ninja, pinned to the ground by a kunai at his throat a kunoichi sitting on his torso.

About to relish in the victory over her team-mate she felt a breeze and the cool steel of a kunai against her neck.

"Shinobi rule number twenty-nine: Always be aware of your surroundings."

She rolled off Naruto with a grunt and stared at the sky, she was too tired to try and turn the tables, in all honesty she'd forgotten the battle was one-on-one-on-one, getting to caught up in her brief victory over Naruto was enough to make her forget she had another opponent.

The older ninja offered his hand to the two exhausted ninja and led them to the a tree where lunch awaited. Much to Sakura's dismay it was Naruto's turn to organize the team's lunch. "Naruto, you do realize there are foods that aren't ramen?", her scowl cause the Kyuubi container to pause momentarily from shoveling the noodles into his mouth, "But ramen's the best!", he said, at least that's what she thought, it was hard to tell with all the food he had stuffed into his mouth. Slightly disgusted by the lack of manners she turned to Kakashi hoping for more stimulating conversation. Her face dropped to see he had already finished his meal and had pulled out that bright orange book of his.

She sat between the men slightly put out by their anti-social behaviour, she even wished Sai wasn't on a mission with Yamato, he would at least want to practise his social skill. If he were here she could at least talk abut the topic that had been brooding in the back of her mind since last night, yes she was drunk but Ino's queries had stuck with her, Sai would have an honest opinion, maybe too honest, probably something about the seal being distracting enough for her forehead to look smaller, like wearing horizontal stripes to create a slimming illusion. Much o her chagrin she was more anxious about the marking, she wondered if Tsunade ever felt like this. For a woman who developed a jutsu to keep her youthful and beautiful she didn't seem bothered about the distinct diamond... then again s-

"What's wrong?"

On reflex she turned to Naruto only to see that he was no longer there, she felt a bit bad that she hadn't noticed his departure until she realised who the source of the question was. It was an understatement to say she was surprised, never had Kakashi asked her such a personal question. She couldn't help but think about how pathetic that was considering their many years as a team.

"What do you mean?", she tried to play coy and hope he'd drop it, Kakashi wasn't exactly a close friend nor someone to have a personal discussion with.

"You're over thinking, is it the same reason you didn't sense me earlier?", he already knew the answer but acknowledgment from Sakura was important.

She had appeared distracted from the start of their training, normally he wouldn't pry into others lives, their problems were their own. But with Sakura it was different, he had been teamed with her so many times and watched her grow into a strong woman he felt somewhat responsible, he had been there for Naruto and Sasuke when they needed training but not her. Not that training Sasuke had ended well. Not that she needed it, she had surpassed him. It was evident from the damage she dealt during the war that he was no longer needed, in fact she hadn't needed him since she began to study under Tsunade. He was impressed by her strength after Naruto's return from training but it was during the war that he was awestruck by the power she commanded. It was at that point he decided that if he survived he would try his best to support her as a friend and equal. Not that he expected to survive so here he was trying to befriend the young medic.

"If it's something that affects your training or a mission it would be best to discuss it."

Smooth Hatake, pretend you're only worried in a professional capacity. Sakura looked away, pretending the hands wringing her skirt were the most interesting view in the vicinity. "Have-", she stopped to consider her question, "Have you ever felt self-conscious?", she rushed the question, embarrassed to ask the renowned Copy-Ninja such a juvenile question.

She kept her eyes shut tightly, anticipating a laugh from the older man.

"You're talking to a thirty year old man with grey hair who hides his face and reads erotic literature in public."

Here eyes flew open, green irises stared at him in shock for the second time that day, "So... you have?", if she was going to confess her insecurities to him she wanted him to be straightforward about his own, and eye for an eye.

"Yes believe it or not I have.", his voice was low and his eyes distant, "I don't wear this mask just to hide my handsome face."

She could tell that despite trying to lighten the mood his mind was elsewhere, but she appreciated his honesty on what seemed to be a difficult issue for him. "I know that the Yin Seal is hard to achieve, and don't get me wrong I'm proud to have obtained it and everything but..."

"But?", he looked at her expectantly.

"Does it... look weird?"

Kakashi certainly wasn't expecting that.

"I just feel so... conspicuous.", she laughed bitterly, "Like it's not enough I have bright pink hair and I intimidate civilians and even some ninja I've now got this fucking thing stamped on my forehead.", her knees were now pulled to her chest and her forehead rested on them, "Sorry for swearing.", she said quietly.

It had need a while since he'd seen this Sakura, ever since training under the current Hokage she had learned to hide her feelings better, it was rare nowadays to see her shields down. But when they were down they were down, as he could see from her now. Placing his book into his weapon pouch he shifted so his whole body faced the younger ninja.

"Sakura?"

She lifted her head to indicate she was listening. "Do you think I'm ashamed of my scar?", he tapped his headband to let her know this question regarded the scar of his Sharingan.

"Yes I do.", and she did, he hid his face and the only conclusion she had been able to reach was that he wore it to hide the scar that marred his face.

Without much ceremony as she would have expected Kakashi pulled his mask down, waiting a few moments to allow her to adjust. She had now lost count of the number of times Hatake Kakashi had surprised her today, but this definitely won first place. He certainly wasn't lying about having a handsome face, the scar now visible with the rest of his features only added to his appeal.

She was speechless. Gai, Kurenai and other friends of the normally masked ninja had admitted to never seeing him take it off. But he had. In front of her no less. Thank goodness Naruto wasn't here, she couldn't even remember when he had left or why, all her attention was on the Jonin who began to talk again. "I want you to understand why I'm doing this. I want you to know that I'm being honest with you and that I trust you. And I want you to trust me."

She was still utterly speechless but absorbed his words. "I wear it for other reasons but not because of this scar. This scar is a reminder of the sacrifice a friend once made. I used to be ashamed of it. Ashamed that he died in my place.", this was obviously a difficult topic for him but he continued. "But my outlook changed. This scar is also a sign of friendship, if it wasn't for this eye I wouldn't be alive. As well as being a sign of strength it's a reminder that Obito trusted me."

Her eyes widened at the mention of Obito, he had never mentioned how he had gotten the Sharingan eye but now that he was revealing such privy information to her in an attempt to empathize with her made her feel closer to him.

"And that.", he touched his pointer finger to the rhombus that decorated her forehead, " Is what that seal should be for you. A mark of you abilities and a memory of what you sacrificed to achieve it."

He removed is finger and her face heated at the unusually close proximity to her old teacher. She looked at the ground in consideration of his speech. He was right. She knew that, but it was strange. It had taken her years to grow comfortable with her unusual hair colour, it still annoyed her when people commented how easy it was to spot her in a crowd, but a few words from Kakashi had put her thoughts at ease. Maybe it was his easygoing nature that was rubbing off on her, being around the Jonin was an odd comfort, in a world of uncertainty and loss he was one of the staples that held her together and had contributed to who she was today, even if he wasn't a good teacher then she still held the ideals he had taught her to heart now. Her head rose and she lunged forward, wrapping her arms around his neck and resting her forehead on his shoulder, "Thank you Kakashi, really."

She wanted to convey her gratitude, even if an embrace made him uncomfortable it felt the right way to show her thanks. Moving back to rest on her calves she saw the mask was now back in place and one hand scratched the back of his head showing he was nervous. "It's no problem.", he sounded flustered but then his eye found hers and the insecurity was gone, "If you need someone to talk to I want you to know that I will be here if you need me."

A hand on her shoulder, the small point of contact punctuated his sincere, rested for a moment before he rose from his seated position, telling her he had a meeting with the Hokage he started to leave. She called after his retreating figure, "Want to get lunch tomorrow?"

He turned round to face her, lone eye closed to signal a smile, "As long as it's not ramen."

* * *

I've had this in my head a while and only now do I have the time to write it down, I did have it planned as a more romantic/fluffy story but I'm happy it ended up as a friendship fic, I think it reads better that for their friendship to develop over Kakashi trying to make things up to Sakura rather then for them to spontaneously kiss or have romantic feelings for each other when they've not interacted in so long, I do like to stay as close to canon as I can. Still not sure about the name though.

Anyway, thanks very much for reading, reviews and constructive criticism is appreciated! Please let me know if there are any spelling errors.


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